Demon's Asylum
by Shadowthorn2013
Summary: When an eight-year-old Len is beckoned into a mental asylum by blood letters, he finds himself neck-deep in the world of demons, magic and insanity. Guided by a nameless man without a body, Len must overcome the challenges on each floor and rescue the previous victims. If he reaches the top floor, everyone will be released - but can he hold off the insanity? Read & review pls!
1. The Asylum

**A/N: I wanted to write something insane. What else can I say?**

**-CHAPTER 1-**

**THE ASYLUM**

Insanity. It was so thick in that place, he could almost _smell _it. People kept in this prison were those so mad they could never be released back to society - some were what you'd expect in an insane asylum; serial killers, rapists, mad men that were so insane you'd expect they'd been teleported straight from a comic book. These people were known to be held in the asylum by everyone - the public knew if there was a breakout, dangerous people would be released. Even the young boy, who was looking up at the looming white building, knew that. And he was only eight.

He also knew something that no-one else knew. Some people who were taken there weren't _normal_. Sure, no-one who was taken there was normal in the head, but some were physically obscure. One time, he'd even seen a boy who was half-human, half-machine taken there. It had given him nightmares for months. The boy had had metal plates replacing his skin, one of his eyes was obviously fake, with wires poking up from underneath it as it moved eerily. Ever since then, the young boy knew that something was off about the asylum.

Then again, he'd always known something was off about it. In his earliest memories, about when he was two or three years old, he remembered playing with a girl who was the mirror image of him - blonde hair, cerulean eyes and a big smile. They were fond memories. So fond, it seemed strange that he'd forget who she was.

"Len, dear, it's getting cold," The boy's mother, Lenka, pestered him sweetly from the doorway, "You should come inside before the sun sets."

Len looked up from his spot by the fence. It had always been his spot - it was the best view of the asylum from down the hillside, and it was quite comfortable to sit on the log during the summer and watch the clouds drift by. Lenka smiled at the angelic little face of her son, beckoning him inside with a nod of her head.

Len got up from his spot, shuffling towards the back door and into the old country-styled kitchen. The British countryside was a lot more beautiful than the pictures of Tokyo that his mother had taken when she lived there - there were no tall buildings out in the countryside, except, of course, for the looming white asylum.

Since he'd learnt how to count, Len had been trying to figure out just how many storeys high the asylum was - it rose so high about the constant thick grey clouds, he couldn't really tell. He thought at least sixty storeys high. Len had long since stopped asking his mother about the asylum - since that day he'd questioned the robot boy, she'd been very tight-lipped about it, and it usually made her very angry. _It's not worth it._

Len sat on the floor in the small living room, which, besides the bathroom and kitchen, was the only room on the small first floor of their country home. The living room was full of many bookcases, containing various hard-to-read books that Len had never even bothered attempting to read. He was content with sitting by the asylum all day, letting his imagination take him on journeys above the clouds. He didn't even play sports with all the other kids nearby - not that there were many of them. About two or three.

And none of them were blonde and female. Unless you counted his mother.

"Len, why don't you be a dear and help me with dinner?" Lenka asked, poking her head out around the corner of the kitchen. Len got up from the floor, heading into the kitchen and pulling up the small stool in the corner to reach the counter, washing his hands before going with the usual routine of helping by mixing the sauce.

After dinner, Len went off to his room on the top floor of the countryside home, sitting on his bed, staring out the oval-shaped window that faced the darkened asylum, barely visible from the way its stark white colour stuck out against the dark night sky. He couldn't explain why he was fascinated with it. He just was.

And then, suddenly, for the first time ever, a light flickered on in the distance. Len blinked a few times, his eyes adjusting, able to see the small barred window that had suddenly lighten up. _Am I dreaming? _He wondered to himself, leaning closer towards the window.

Moments later, a bloodcurdling scream filled the air, causing Len to jump back, falling off his bed, landing on his behind on the floor. It was a scream of pain. Of extreme pain.

A siren set off at the asylum, causing Lenka to rush into her son's room.

"We have to go, sweetie," She said, helping Len up, grabbing a suitcase, beginning to pack the necessaries and irreplacables away.

Len didn't ask what was happening - it had something to do with the asylum, it would probably make his mother mad. She thrust the suitcase into his hands, before running off to pack her own bags, telling Len to wait downstairs.

Len went down the stairs into the dark living room, bracing himself against the railing. Something was happening at the asylum, that was for sure. Curiously, Len snuck out of the kitchen, stepping into the field, kneeling in his spot and grasping the barbed wire fence carefully, looking up at the asylum. He had a clearer view now, yet nothing more was explained. A break-out, he supposed. Which meant they were in danger - especially considering how close they were.

"Len!" Lenka called, stepping outside, her voice full of worry, "Len, sweetie, we need to get out of here."

Len kept staring at the asylum, his mothers words fading away into the background. The window with the light on was stained a strange red colour, with gaps in which the light seeped through. Squinting his eyes, Len realised that the gaps spelt out a word.

Come.

Slowly and steadily, Len stepped over the wiring, beginning his ascent towards the asylum.

"LEN!" His mother screamed at him, yelling threats of grounding, pleads, bribes, anything she could think of. But he was already lost.

It barely took Len twenty minutes to reach the top of the hillside, where two thick, iron doors stood in his way. He stared at them, as if that could change something, as if they'd open. And they did. The loud creaking noise blocked out Len's approaching mother's desperate cries, as he stared up at the windows, which were slowly lighting up above him. Stepping through the doors, which instantly slammed shut, locking his mother out, Len stood blankly in the stark white corridor.

Doors led off on all sides, like a prison with concealed cells, the corridor stretching on forever and ever, the walls, ceiling and floor the same eye-aching white. It was bright inside the asylum, though there seemed to be no lights.

"Hey... You..." A voice called from the first cell on the right, causing Len to walk up to it. He couldn't see through the bars on the door, as he was much too short, "Could you let me out of here?"

Len thought for a few seconds, before replying softly, "Who are you?"

"Just a guy." The voice replied. It was gruff and old sounding and it reminded Len of the farmer, Al, who lived down the road.

"Is that your name?" Len asked, with no hint of sarcam in his voice.

"No. Of course it isn't," The voice said, laughing hoarsely.

"What's your name?" Len asked, "If you tell me, I may let you out."

"Don't be stupid, kid," The voice replied, "I'm not _allowed _to tell you my name, you have to figure it out. Besides, you'll need my help if you're going to get out of here."

"Why would I want to leave?" Len asked quietly, "I only just got here."

"Then enjoy your visit," The man said snidely, "And when you need my assistance, run back here and let me out, like the good little boy you are."

Len stepped away from the door, noticing the sheet of paper hanging against the wall. It would've, supposedly, contained the prisoner's information. But this one was completely blank, almost as if it were in front of an empty room. Speaking of empty, it seemed that every other cell in the corridor was. Len continued down the hallway, his bare feet slapping against the pale concrete floor. He stopped after a while, noticing the end of the corridor wasn't getting any closer.

Perhaps he did need that man's help. Turning around, Len found himself barely a few steps outside of the man's cell. Had he been walking on the spot the entire time?

"I need your help," Len said, pressing his hand against the cell door.

"I thought you would," The man said, "Everyone always does."

"Everyone?"

"Every single person who enters this place needs my help. They all let me out, and I lead all of them to the exit. Assuming they survive that long, anyway." The man replied simply.

"If every single person lets you out, then why are you still in there?" Len asked, his fingers reaching towards the release lever on the wall.

"Because every time someone fails, everything goes back to normal." The man explained, "Every prisoner returns to their cells, every parent forgets they ever had a child, every friend forgets they even knew the person who failed. It's entirely wiped from existence."

Len paused for a moment, "You mean this... Isn't real?"

"Of course it's real," The man replied, "Simply real in a different dimension to yours. If you fail, you're trapped here forever, becoming one of the pawns in this ever continuing game."

"And if I succeed?" Len asked.

"No idea," The man said, "I suppose, if someone succeeds, everything wouldn't reset itself. And therefore, we'd all leave with you - those of us who want to, anyway. But no-one has ever left. Humans have sent the most intelligent and bravest of humans in here, but eventually, they've all gone insane. From going around and around and around. And due to their insanity, they can never escape, and eventually end up surrendering."

"You don't seem insane." Len offered as a compliment.

The man laughed, "I think the reason you say that, boy, is because you're insane yourself."

Len decided not to question this, finally reaching the lever and pulling it down with all his might, dangling off of it slightly. A clicking noise sounded as the door slid open instantly.

"You can come out now." Len said, "The door's open."

"I am out." The man said simply.

Len frowned, looking around, seeing nothing, "Where are you?"

"Right here." The man said, "You can't see me though. My body long ago fell apart - only my soul is left."

"Oh. Okay." Len said, "Can I progress now?"

"Yes," The man said, "Just go through into my cell - there's a passage through there."

"What am I supposed to call you?" Len asked as he stepped into the cell.

"I never had a name," The man explained, "I was the first one given up to this place to try and rescue 'him'."

"Him?"

"Well, that's the only name I know him by," The man explained, as Len found a small crack in the wall, breaking it apart and crawling through into the tunnel, "Apparently, he was a very precious person to the human society - therefore, they needed him back desperately. I believe he was the only demon to have ever entered the human world, and therefore the only one able to use magic. However, the demons decided that humans couldn't have him in their midst, and they built a large, sixty-six storey building over where he was standing, teleporting him back to his own dimension."

"So, this place was created by demons?" Len asked curiously.

"Yes, I suppose so. And every century, this place moves locations, as to stop the humans from sending too many people in. Of course, centuries after 'he' was taken back to the demon realm, many humans had completely forgotten about him. However, a small band of loyal followers sent more humans in, generation after generation. I was the first sent in - and that was five-hundred years ago. I was sent in as merely a child - about the age of five years old. I was bred specifically for this place - given the best training possible."

"So why didn't you make it?" Len asked, "Surely there was no-one else here to stop you."

"Well, for one, I was five years old," The man explained, "And I suppose it was because there was no-one here that I was insane so fast. All of a sudden, my parents were gone and so was everything else I'd ever cared about. I was alone in a strange place. It barely took me three minutes to go crazy. And then I woke up in that cell with a mysterious amount of knowledge of how to get through this place, so I asked the next person to let me out so I could help them. And for five centuries, the cycle has repeated like that - the band of followers that never forget send in another hapless human, or one stumbles in, such as yourself, I helped them as much as I could, but eventually they went insane and everything was reset; like an ever-going game. Some trapped souls would feel greedy and try to trap others, whereas the majority of us just want to go home, restore our parents memories, live our lives."

"If you've been around for five hundred years, wouldn't you just disappear?" Len asked.

"At this point in time," The man said, "I just want to end this game. So many young, charming people have stumbled in here, lost their minds and become confined. Many are still insane, whereas few grab their sanity back. Like me. I never ask for any player's name, as I know they'll fail, and I'll end up grieving for someone I never should've. I know them simply as 'player' with their number."

"What number am I?" Len asked.

"Number sixty-six, I believe." The man said, "Ironic, really. Considering that's not only the demon's strongest number, but also the amount of floors in this building."

Finally, the tunnel ended, light seeping through the crack in the wall that Len broke apart, stepping out into a new corridor. This corridor, unlike the previous one, went off in the other direction, with few doors. The doors were open, meaning Len could easily see down the two hallways he had to choose from.

"Choose whichever you want," The man said, "They both come out on the second floor."

The second floor. That was Len's goal, right? To get to the top of this building - all sixty-six floors of it.

Len stared at the two corridors - left or right. _Right is right, left is wrong. _He concluded, pushing through the door to the right corridor. Mirrors lined the wall closest to the other corridor, where glass lined the other - revealing a long, empty cell, full of chains covered in blood. Blood smeared up the walls and against the glass, in barely comprehendable writing.

_The right way is not always the correct way._

Len ignored the writing, and his invisible companion remained silent, having seen it fifty-three times already. The corridor went on and on, but there was an obvious door at the end, and it was getting closer as Len moved towards it, so nothing needed to be said. Words would simply drive him closer to insanity, right? Dwelling on anything he saw here would push him closer and closer to the edge.

"Len?" A small voice said from inside the seemingly empty cell, "Len, is that really you?"

Len stopped, looking towards the glass cell. Not a soul inside - well, not a fleshy body anyway.

"Len, please, look at me." The voice pleaded, "Remember who I am."

"Where are you?" Len asked calmly, feeling warmth and recognition dripping from the voice.

"I'm here!" The voice cried, the chains tugging against the wall as if someone had fallen forwards, "Right here! In front of your eyes!"

Len made his way back to where the chains had been tugged, pressing his face up against the glass, "I can't see you."

"If you just look at me, I'll be free." The feminine voice explained, "And then we can be together again."

Len wished that his invisible companion would speak up and tell him if the girl was actually there - but when he thought about, the sound of his companion's breathing had died away the moment he'd entered the room. Not that the breathing had been very loud before, but enough to notice.

"I can't see you." Len repeated, before noticing the blood against the glass had rearranged itself to spell out something different.

_Sometimes it's wise to look behind you. _

Len frowned at the text - there was nothing behind him. The door was locked shut, so there was no way he'd be able to back-track.

"Please, Len, I'm begging you! Look at me!"

Slowly and steadily, Len turned around, facing the mirror wall. In a flicker of a moment, a face came into view in the mirrors, broken by the cracks in the wall. The face was familiar, yet older than Len remembered it to be. Cerulean eyes met his, the blonde hair falling in the girl's face as her eyes lit up.

"Len." She breathed in relief, "Thank you. We'll meet again soon."

And with that, she faded away. Len turned back to the glass cell, that was now completely empty, the shackles broken away from the wall, as if they'd been cut. The blood was gone too, and the room was replaced with a library full of children books stacked on their sides. With that, the corridor seemingly morphed, becoming shorter, the door to exit barely inches away from Len's grasp.

Len turned the metallic door handle, shoving against it and stepping out into the corridor, a weird feeling bubbling through him.

"I forgot to mention," A voice said, startling Len slightly, as he realised it was the man from before, "That there are some rooms in which I cannot enter with you."

"Why do I feel so strange all of a sudden? And why do my legs hurt?" Len asked.

"You've aged," The man explained, "Time advances differently in the demon world - in a way I can't even begin to understand. Sometimes, a year or two will pass by in a moment, other times, it will take centuries for just a second to progress. Age wise, anyway. Other than that, time advances normally, so don't expect time to suddenly go in slow motion."

"So, you mean, I grew older?" Len asked.

"Yes," The man said, "In a way, it's an advantage for this game, as you'll become stronger quickly. If you were, however, say, forty years old, it would be a disadvantage. You're lucky you're so young."

The newly nine-year-old Len looked around the new room. It was small, with the two doors behind him obviously leading to the previous corridor and the left corridor. Stairs led up from the middle of the room, obviously leading to the second floor.

"For many people, they fail the game after aging three years, unable to deal with how rapidly their body is changing," The man explained, "For others, they can almost get to the end without aging a second. It depends on how the time is feeling. If it's angry, it'll advance faster, if it's sad, it'll advance slower."

"What if it's happy?" Len asked, going up the stairs.

"If the time is happy, it'll advance in the way that best suits you." The man explained, "For you, it'd probably advance quickly until you were eighteen, or had enough body strength and height to have an advantage in this game. For others, it'd stop advancing until they were finished. Due to this, most of us are actually the correct age for our amount of time from staying here."

"How old are you?" Len asked curiously, as he reached the top of the stairs.

"Well, I've been here five hundred years, which would be long enough for my body to decompose. I believe I'm around the age of four-hundred-and-sixty-nine, though." The man said, "And the reason I haven't completely disappeared, is because this is 'his' punishment. To watch his beloved humans suffer for all eternity - until one of them manages to win."

"In other words," Len said, "You can't die here."

"Well, you can in a sense," The man said, "If someone stabbed you through the heart, your sanity would die. But yes, physically, it's impossible to die. Only your sanitiy can be murdered - though in most cases, it's accidental suicide, like slipping on something and ending up with a knife through your throat."

The second floor which Len had arrived on had remarkable resemblance to the corridor when he'd first entered, except the first cell on the right was completely sealed off with no door at all, as was the second door on the left.

"As you go up every floor, freeing us from our cells, they're closed up. You can see who've you freed as you progress to the next floor - kind of like tallying your score on a computer game, I suppose." The man explained.

"So my objective is to free everyone?" Len asked.

"Not really - you don't have to score high to win the game, but it's always the better way to do things." The man explained, "To _win _the game, you have to get to the top."

Len nodded, "And to get past each floor, I have to solve puzzles, right?"

"Exactly." The man said, "And every person you save is bound to help you - like me, for instance. You let me out and I'm telling you how to play. You let the girl out, and she'll come back to help you later. Also, I believe saving her 'unlocked' something for you to look at later."

"So this world..." Len said, "Is basically a demon's version of a real-life computer game."

"Basically. And each character you come across helps you, whereas the actual place itself is your enemy. Think of it as that your bacteria, and every person you meet is bacteria. With enough bacteria, the thing you're inside of is more likely to keel over and die, but one small piece of bacteria _can _kill the thing - if it's strong enough." The man explained, "That's how this game works."

"Then, I suppose, we best get moving - before I turn sixty-six."

**- END -**


	2. Cinderella and Luka

**-CHAPTER 2-**

**CINDERELLA AND LUKA**

It surprised Len how much more confident he felt as time passed. Somehow, the quiet, curious kid he'd been, fascinated by the asylum, was becoming more curious and open-speaking. It was almost as if the asylum was having the _opposite _effect on him that it was supposed to. He was more scared at first than he was now. Perhaps he was just getting used to it.

Walking past the sixty-five cells in the hallway, Len made his way to the end of it, noting that now he could hear his invisible companion's breathing in his ear. It was good to note that; a way that Len could always know if the man was there or not. Strange though. How a bodiless soul breathed and spoke. Though, considering how strange everything else was, Len didn't put much thought into it.

"Ah, I can't follow you into the next few rooms," The voice said suddenly, as Len's hand grasped the door handle, "And the only advice I can give you is to read as much as you can. Oh! And if you ever get really stuck, sometimes it's best to just take a good, long, hard look at yourself, okay?"

"Okay." Len said, repeating the information in a loop in his head.

"One more thing," The man said, "The next time we meet, I may be slightly different. More like how I was before you walked off the first time."

Thinking back over it, the man had been a lot more helpful than he had when they first met - a lot less cryptic as well. He nodded, before twisting the door handle, hearing the breathing fade away from his ear as he entered, the door slamming shut after him. The room was the cell from the other room after all the chains and blood had disappeared. Story books piled up on their sides in stacks against the wall.

Len turned and saw a glass wall that he could see through, mirrors lining the wall on the other side, a door at the end of the room full of books._ Read as much as you can. _Len repeated in his head, grabbing one of the colossal story books and setting it down. The cover was blank, with no information as to what the story was about, only a picture of a young blonde girl wearing a princess dress, holding hands with a young blonde boy, who was a wearing a princess's servant outfit. It caught his interest, because the boy looked exactly like him.

He turned the page, only to find it completely blank - wordless and pictureless.

"Are you reading?" The feminine voice called, causing Len's head to snap up. It seemed the blonde girl was back again, but he couldn't see her.

"There's no story to read," Len said, closing the book and grabbing another, that portrayed a girl with long, aqua twin-tails, her face covered by a mask as she walked up behind a blue-haired prince. He opened it and, again, it was empty.

"Of course there is, silly!" The girl said, "I can see the writing from here!"

Len paused for a few moments - he couldn't see the girl before, so it wouldn't be that strange if she could see something he couldn't. Len grabbed the book with the teal-haired girl on the cover, struggling to hold it as he pushed it up against the glass, "Can you read it now?"

"Yes!" She said, "It's so close I'd have to be blind not to, silly." She giggled, her face appearing in the broken mirror wall, her cerulean eyes blinking at him.

"I meant, can you read it to me?" He asked, still unable to see the text in the mirror, as the girl sat down on the floor in front of him. She looked slightly older than she had before in the reflection.

"Sure," She giggled, "It's called 'Cendrillon, story of a cursed Cinderella'. Once upon a time, in a kingdom far, far away, there was a young girl named Cinderella. Cinderella's step-sisters were preparing to go to the ball, held by the wonderful Prince Charming. Cinderella was issued to make the dresses for her sisters, but was forbidden to attend the ball herself."

As the girl stopped, she gave him a motion to turn the page, so Len pulled it back from the mirror, turning the page and pushing it up against the glass again.

"Cinderella was envious of her step-sisters, as they were never over-looked by their cold, harsh mother." The girl continued, "And so, Cinderella decided to take away what was most important to them - their muse and embodiment of affection; the Prince.

"The night of the ball was soon approaching, and Cinderella was beginning to plan her deceitful act. After having sewn the dresses for her step-sister, Cinderella made own for herself, making it very beautiful, with sparkling blue gems. As her mother and step-sisters left for the ball, Cinderella donned the outfit she'd made for herself with the help of a fairy that came during the night, skipping down the steps three at a time as she hopped in a carriage headed for the ball.

"Upon arrival, Cinderella found one of her step-sisters dancing with the Prince, and patiently waited until the dance was over. Then, as her step-sister stepped away, Cinderella began to dance with the Prince, their eyes locked. He was much more handsome up close that she'd thought.

"As their dance ended, the Prince did something very unexpected, whispering in a hushed voice that he'd meet her under the stairs after the night was over. Cinderella waited until the Prince walked off, before following him under the stairs. No words were shared as they kissed under the stairs, out of sight from the many others.

"Cinderella's plan had not originally been to fall for the Prince - nor have him fall for her. Yet, it had happened. The knife slipped out from under the cuff of her dress, clattering to the floor noisily. The Prince stared at it for a few moments, before a knife slipped through his fingers, pressing up against the soft flesh of Cinderella's neck."

The girl stopped reading it, her eyes widening. Len pulled the book back, closing it and tossing it aside. That wasn't a nice story.

"That..." The girl paused for a few moments, as Len went to find another book, "Miku!" The girl exclaimed, causing Len to turn and look at her in surprise.

"I have to warn Miku!" The girl said, standing up and racing towards the door, vanishing from the mirror before Len could get a single word from his lips. There was no way he could read anything else - all the books were empty and textless and only the girl could read them. Looking down at the book with the two blondes holding hands, Len realised the girl had disappeared from the cover, leaving the boy holding out his hand to no-one.

_Good, long, hard look at yourself. _

_Is that boy me? Was that girl her? Why are we in a storybook? _Len wondered, staring down at the cover for a few minutes. After a while, the boy lowered his hand, turning around to face Len, tilting his head, his cerulean eyes staring through the cover. The boy on the cover turned again, pointing towards the castle in the distance. Len squinted slightly, before noticing that a teal-haired girl, similar to that on the Cendrillon cover was walking, her hair flowing behind her, chatting with a white-haired girl. They began walking closer to the cover down the hillside.

The boy in the cover turned back to Len, pushing a finger to his lips as if to tell him to be silent. Len held his breath, obeying the boy on the cover, hearing the faint murmur of voices in the distance.

"I'm jealous of your hair, Michaela." A low voice said.

"I'm jealous of yours! It's so pretty." A voice that sounded the exact same, only high-pitched enthused, "And unique. You're different from everyone, Clarith, that's what makes you so special."

The voices faded away and the boy on the cover tapped against it, causing Len to look down at him in surprise, the invisible barrier making a wood-like knocking sound.

"Do you want to see her? The girl who helped you?" The boy in the cover asked, his voice the same as Len's, "See her so you'll be able to see each other without the mirror?"

Len gave a small nod.

"Open the book." The boy on the cover insisted, before sliding away from the invisible barrier, moving back to his place as the teal-haired girl and her white-haired companion disappeared, holding out his hand before freezing in the position he was in, the girl slowly fading back in. Len pushed the book open, to find a picture of the girl in the mirror sitting on the first page, a big goofy grin on her face, her tongue poking out. _Rin Kagamine _was scrawled along the photo in messy signature-styled hand-writing, a heart dotting the 'i's. On the very next page was a picture of Len himself, but he looked a lot older than he currently was, grinning at the camera as well. _Len Kagamine_.

He closed the book, gasping and jumping back as he stared at the cover. The blonde boy's head was missing, blood soaking through his clothes, the tender flesh of his neck showing. The girl was kneeling before him, sobbing at the scene, her cries echoing in the otherwise quiet room. Len got up, looking away from the book, that now had blood-stained paper. Slowly and steadily, the rest of the books began bleeding out, the characters on the covers killing themselves or others, sobs filling the room to the point of complete craziness. The girl on the cover of Cendrillon pushed the knife through her flesh, the lady on the cover of Conchita began eating herself, the blonde boy who was decapitated was stabbing the teal-haired girl who'd been chatting on the cover of another book.

The mayhem continued, with the characters killing, dying and sobbing left right and center. Len turned, letting his thoughts stray far away from the books, pushing open the door into the next room, slamming it shut afterwards.

"Miku, please! You have to believe me! He'll kill you!" Came the desperate cry of the mirror girl - Rin, her name was Rin. Len needed to start referring to her by that.

"You're lying!" The voice of the teal-haired girl snapped, "You're just jealous! You want him for yourself!"

"I'm telling the truth, Miku!" Rin begged, "He'll kill you if you go after him!"

"I won't let you lie to me!"

There was a smack and the sound of someone falling over, high-heels clicking against the white floor as one of the girls stormed off. Len turned to corner to see Rin sitting on the ground, leaning on her palms, blood trickling down her face. And for the first time, he realised the mirrors hadn't been cracked - _Rin_ was cracked. Long cracks went from her eye, down to her lip that was bleeding, scratches covering her porcelain-like skin.

Rin looked up from where she was sitting, her glass cerulean eyes meeting Len's, "Len..." She said quietly, before her eyes darted away. Rin was wearing a dress made of white silk, falling down to her feet, that had only four toes on one. There was no flesh were her skin was cracked, or where her toes were missing. It was simply as if she was a doll.

"Are you... okay?" Len asked, as Rin wiped the blood from her lip. It didn't bleed anymore. Her lips bounced off of each other as she spoke and Len noticed that, like a doll, she had no tongue or teeth, yet managed to talk.

"I'm fine," She replied, as Len noticed the doll-like features of her, "But I don't think Miku will be..."

"Miku... Was she the girl you were just talking to?" Len asked, and Rin responded with a small nod.

"She's been trapped here for as long as me." Rin explained, "But whereas my punishment was to become a doll if ever released from my mirror, her's was to be forever trapped in a fairytale."

"You mean, besides being trapped her, you all have different punishments-?" Len asked and Rin nodded.

"The man by the entrance - his punishment was to forget his identity." Rin explained, "He doesn't realise it most of the time, but another version of him will tell you eventually."

Rin paused for a few moments, "Well, that's what someone told me. I lost my sanity in that room." Rin nodded towards the door Len had just come through.

Len frowned, "Wait, why were you helping Miku? If she's trapped her, she can't physically die."

"Well, yes, technically she _does _come back to life all the time," Rin said, "But she's always dying and then resetting - and from what the oracle told me, she's crucial in escaping. And since I saw _you _were the next player, I decided I wanted to try as hard as I can this time - absolutely no slipping up. If you help me up I can come with you."

Len held out his hand, and Rin's cold, porcelain hand slipped into his, as she balanced herself on the balls of her feet, standing up, her porcelain joints grinding.

"Thanks," She smiled, before turning, "C'mon - let's go into the next room."

"Wait," Len said, grabbing the doll's cold elbow. She looked at him with life-like glass eyes as he asked, "Are we related?"

Rin looked as if she would've grinned, had her doll-like lips allowed her to, "You remembered?"

"I saw a picture of us, and we have the same last name..." Len admitted and the doll's gentle face fell.

"Oh," She said, "Well, I suppose that's close enough. We're actually twins. Rin and Len Kagamine - the greatest duo of all time!"

Len couldn't help but smile for the first time since his arrival at the asylum, as he thought that over, realising she was the girl from his early memories, but must've wandered in the asylum by accident, causing him and his mother to forget. _Then why is it I could always kind of remember her-? _Len wondered, but dismissed it.

"Now, let's go!" Rin said, "I won't be of much help, as I only knew what happened in the next room because the oracle told me that was his punishment, but I can help you figure it out."

Len nodded, as he turned the door handle, his arm supporting his fragile, doll-like sister. Again, he felt the strange tingling sensation he had when he'd grown before, coursing through his body.

"Oh!" Rin exclaimed, her arms growing slightly, the cracks in her face patching themselves up, her toe growing back, "Happy birthday us!"

If it had already been a year in the short amount of time it'd taken Len to get through one room, that meant time was progressing awfully fast. Perhaps time was happy, and was aging fast to let Len reach the age of a teenager with some muscle and knowledge sooner?

"Double digits now," Rin enthused, "Ten years old - let's make the most of this year and _not _die, okay?"

She offered a slight laugh, as the two entered the room.

The moment they entered, they both froze stiff. Hanging from the ceiling was a long, thick rope, tied into a noose at the bottom, looping around a neck of a young girl, the rope digging into her fleshy throat. Rin began shivering as Len looked up at the girl's limp body. Her pink hair fell around her shoulders, speckled with blood as her body hung there, the rope groaning against the strain of her weight, her sapphire eyes staring straight through Len's soul.

"I hate her..." Rin said quietly, backing up slightly as the girl's eyes shifted over to the doll of a girl.

"I hate you too." The hanging girl said, her voice thick and laced with hatred and pain. Len peered his head around the hanging girl, seeing the door behind her was shut tightly, and probably locked.

"Can we please get through?" Len asked.

"No." The girl said firmly, a drop of blood falling off her bottom lip, landing on Len's nose. He wiped it away.

"Please? I'm trying to get to the top so I can free us all."

"I know," The girl said simply, "Everyone always is - trying to free us, I mean. Why? Do you care what happens to us if we go back into the real world?"

"Why would you want to stay here?" Len asked, frowning slightly.

"It's fun," The girl said, a smile spreading on her lips that split slightly at the movement, "I have more friends here than I ever have."

"She's insane," Rin said quietly, "Everyone stays away from her."

Sapphire eyes locked onto Rin, as she spat blood on the blonde doll, who flinched, stepping further back.

"If I go back home, daddy will hurt me," The girl said, the grin still on her lips, "I'm going to stay here until daddy dies. And then I'll eat his body."

Rin looked as if she were about to throw up, "That's disgusting - you freak!"

The girl hissed at Rin, before her eyes landed back on Len, "What was your daddy like?"

Len stared at the pink-haired girl for a few seconds, "I don't remember. He left when we were young."

"We?" The girl asked, before her eyes landed back on Rin, "_Oh_. You're related. How sweet. I feel sorry for you - being related to a girl like her. You know, she's very fragile, you could easily break her into a million pieces."

"I don't want to." Len said simply.

"If you did though," The girl grinned, "And you fed her to me, I'd let you through."

Len froze - Rin, or the game? If he failed, it would all be reset, right? Rin would go back to the mirror, he'd be punished in some way, and the girl would dangle there with an empty stomach. But what if he _didn't _fail? If he succeeded, would Rin remain dead?

"Len..." Rin said quietly, "Please..."

"But you could free us all." The girl reminded Len, "Besides, I'm very, very hungry. It's been ages since I had a meal as delicious as her."

Len shook his head, "No."

The girl's face fell, "Then how will you get through? I'm not letting you unless you feed me. If you try to be noble and sacrifice yourself, all you're doing is trapping yourself and everyone else here."

"What if your father is already dead?" Len asked, "It's been at least five years in the human world since Rin arrived here."

"Rin has barely been here two years in demon time," The girl said matter-of-factly, "I remember hearing her screams of insanity from the story-book room."

"And I've been here two years," Len explained, "Which means any amount of time could've passed in the human realm since your arrival - I'd bet your daddy is already dead."

"What if he isn't?" The girl asked, "What if, when I go back, he hurts me, and I don't have any friends again?"

"Well, that won't happen." Len promised, "Because I'll be your friend."

The girl looked at him in surprise for a few moments, before laughing insanely, "You? My friend? Why would someone like _you_ help someone like _me_? You're lying! Lying so I'll let you through! Lying so you can rescue yourself and your precious sister!"

Len thought for a few moments, "Is there anything I could do to prove it to you?"

"You could feed me your sister," The girl grinned, as Rin shimmied behind her brother nervously.

"How about," Len said, "I let you down from there, and we find you some food. If we don't try and find you food, you can eat her."

"L-Len-" Rin's voice shook, "A-are you serious?"

"We'll find her some food," Len said calmly, "And then she'll leave us alone."

"Deal." The girl said, as Len stretched on his toes to the noose, unknotting it. The pink-haired girl fell from it onto the ground with a loud thud, as Rin backed up into the corner, obviously fearing the girl would simply attack her. The girl stood up, rubbing her neck sorely and grinning lopsidedly, the blood from her bottom lip rolling down her chin.

"My name's Luka." She said, "Luka Megurine."

"Nice to meet you, Luka," Len smiled, "I'm Len - this is Rin. I hope we become good friends."

**- END -**

**A/N: If you want someone to turn up in the story, just request them, as I'll be trying to put sixty-six different characters in! **


	3. Clocks

**-CHAPTER 3-**

**CLOCKS**

Footsteps echoed through the small passageway as the three climbed the stairs, Rin's hand gripping Len's arm, as Luka went on ahead, skipping and singing to herself. The third floor. Len was making good progress, that was for sure. And so far, he didn't feel the slightest bit insane. From the way things were going, it seemed as if everything was going to work out fine.

Pushing through the floor to the third floor, Luka skipped in, giggling at the distraught expression on the doll girl's face - well, as distraught as her porcelain features allowed. Upon stepping into the corridor, Len noticed that now the two first cells had vanished, as well as the first cell on the left. Three floors, three people rescued. He was winning.

"I'm getting hungry." Luka hissed quietly in Rin's ear, who shivered and shook, her porcelain knees creaking under her shaking weight. Luka giggled mischeviously, skipping forward, singing to herself again. She seemed fond of the tune, as eerie and creepy sounding as it was. Len supposed he should've expected someone insane to come along eventually - the man had adviced him that most people were mad.

"We'll find you some food." Len said simply, as they walked past the remaining sixty-two cells. It really was feeling as if Len was walking through the place, letting out the prisoners and walking with them - especially with Luka singing and skipping around, occasionally talking about people that tasted the best.

"Not just 'some food'," Luka said firmly, "I want some_body_ to eat. You _did _understand that when you made the deal with me, right?"

"Right." Len said, really not feeling like chatting with the insane pinkette. She was the type that would end up driving Len insane if he had to hang around her too much. However, he did have to wonder where she'd go when she left them; where the teal-haired girl went as well. How did _she _get past Luka? Actually, how did any of these people get around?

And where was Len's invisible guide? There was no reason why he couldn't be with them in this area, right? Or maybe he was, and Len simply couldn't hear him due to Luka's singing. It would make sense if he stayed silent whilst Len was with others. Much easier talking to people he could see, rather than someone he could only hear breathing if not speaking.

"I wonder what's in here~!" Luka sung happily, pushing open the next door, flinging it back carelessly, skipping on ahead. Len followed, pushing through the door and stopping, after entering, surveying the room as Luka danced around. The room didn't seem like anything he'd seen in the asylum so far. In fact, it seemed almost homely.

A light green carpet was spread over the floor, two doors leading off in different directions, toys scattered everywhere. A train set was moving around on the floor, going around and around in circles, puffing smoke occasionally. Letter blocks were stacked upon each other in the corner of the room, spelling out the word 'Hug'.

"This place is creepy..." Rin said quietly, "The toys look as if they've been played with recently."

Luka plopped down in front of the letter blocks, turning them around and stacking them in different ways, "You guys go explore~! I'll play for a while, okay? Bring me back some food!"

"...Was she always like this?" Len wondered aloud.

"I don't know. She was here at least ten years before me." Rin said quietly, "Some people who enter this place never regain their sanity. I only did because I saw you, Len."

Len smiled slightly to himself, wondering what it would've been like if Rin had been insane. He couldn't really picture it.

"We should split up." Rin decided, "I'll go right, you get left. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes and hop Luka hasn't started eating herself."

Len nodded, "Or you."

Rin cringed, nodding and pushing open the right door, as Luka watched her leave, before returning to her blocks. A part of Len didn't want to go down the left corridor for two reasons - one, Luka may follow Rin and eat her before he returned, and two, surely, the only reason he hadn't gone completely mad so far was because of the human - well kind of human - contact. Talking to everyone had comforted him in a way, despite never talking to people before he entered the asylum.

People used to say Len was strange because of his lack of communication - maybe it was that strangeness that allowed him to feel more at home with insanity? He always had liked the smell this place gave off.

Reluctantly, Len pushed through the door, listening for a few moments by the door to make sure Luka was still singing and playing with the blocks. Len turned and stared down the hallway. It was full of clocks, slowly ticking in a rhythm that was almost like the beat to a song. Len began down the hallway, finding it started sloping downstairs, the rest of the floor falling away to reveal lots and lots of clocks ticking - some twice Len's size. A giant grandfather clock - at least twenty times Len's height - was at the end of the hallway, its hands ticking so fast Len could barely see them.

"Lord dang it," A voice cussed, causing Len to jump, "Gramps is going to overheat everyone if he keeps up at this rate."

"Um, hello?" Len called, as the noise of someone banging their head sounded, a barely audible 'ouch' coming from the direction of the grandfather clock. Len stepped towards it, jumping back as a green-haired girl, covered in grease, exited from a door at the side of the grandfather back. Her hair was held back by orange and red goggles, her green eyes matching her spiky, strange hair, her denim overalls stained with grease, a wrench resting on her shoulder.

"Who're you?" The girl asked, "You're not Ryuu-kun."

"Um, my name's Len. I'm the newest player." Len explained awkwardly, not really sure how his introduction should go.

"Oh!" The girl exclaimed, "A player, eh? Don't see many of them around here - most go right. Don't know why though, suppose it's coz left is the devil's direction." The girl held out a grease-covered hand, blowing a stray strand of green hair from her eyes, "Name's Gumi. My punishment is to keep time in check, which, believe me, is _not _an easy job."

The grandfather clock made a loud 'dong' which caused Len's ears to almost bleed, as his hand flew up to them, covering them. Gumi, however, let the blood drip from her ears as she made her way to the clock and hit it with the wrench.

"Oi! Calm down!" She yelled at it, her voice surprisingly able to get that loud, "I know you're excited about pretty boy and all, but I don't need his brains all over the floor!"

The grandfather clock calmed, still ticking at an incredibly fast rate.

"Good lord," Gumi rolled her eyes, walking back over to Len, cleaning the blood from her ears with her pinky finger, "Anyway, I suppose you're here to ask some questions about time? Most players are - when they see the clocks they just know this is the place that's either making them age too or not fast enough."

"Um, yeah, I suppose," Len shrugged, "I've been kind of curious about time in this place..."

"Well, first off, let me explain that despite having the job to keep time _in check_, I can't actually control it. Gramps does whatever he wants, depending on how he's feeling," Gumi said, gesturing to the giant clock, "If he's saddened by someone that enters - thinks that it's a pity that they're here and that they won't be fun - he goes slower. If he's angered by someone that enters - say, they were engineered specifically for this and sent in by the humans - he'll go so fast that you'll age years in mere minutes. If he's pleased by someone that enters - if they seem to be a good challenge against the asylum, but there's still a nice chance they'll fail - he goes the speed that will benefit them most, as he wishes for them to continue playing longer."

The clock kept ticking behind her, as she gestured to the many other clocks scattered across the walls surrounding the grandfather clock, "All these clocks help keep time to the standard in which it will be similar to the human way of measuring time and not the demon way. You see, demon lives go for amounts of years that completely bypass our ability to count; so they keep time going a lot quicker. Years for them pass by in a passage of time that is most closely met by human time as 1.29 milliseconds. If their clocks go this fast in, say, eighty years, they'd reach the age of six. The clocks around us balance the demon time out to a slower speed - if Gramps was the only clock, and his hands barely moved, you'd still be aging a month a minute - that human bodies can adapt to and handle. With enough of them working at the same time, Gramps begins working on human time, but they exhaust themselves so quickly that there's always one broken."

Just as the word 'broken' left Gumi's mouth, a clock seemingly jumped off the wall, hitting the ground, its springs flying apart. The green-haired mechanic rolled her eyes.

"You didn't need to go all suicidal just to prove my point, Fred." She said, picking up the smashed clock, "Then again, maybe you did. You always were the point-proving one of your family."

Len watched as the mechanic took 'Fred' off to the room she'd exited before, which was in the side of the grandfather clock. She stuck her head out, "You can come in for a visit if you want!"

Len walked up to the door inside the grandfather clock, that had a stainglass window, decorated with designs of a clock. Stepping through the door, Len felt as if he'd entered another world.

The inside was very homey, with sofas and a radio that blared rock 'n' roll music from the eighties, paintings of landscapes stacked up the wall like a puzzle piece. Spare parts of clocks lay around everywhere, some clocks half finished, and some, like Fred, completely destroyed. The clocks all seemingly had legs and arms attacked to them, even those who weren't finished. Len hadn't noticed that before.

Some of the closer to being finished clocks were walking around, or sitting on the sofa lazily, supposedly talking to the others by ticking.

"Gary, get _off _the sofa." Gumi rolled her eyes, shoving one of the smaller, older-looking clocks off. The clock gave her a look of disgust, before getting off the couch. Gumi turned to Len, "So, can I get you anything? A drink? Some food? You must be hungry - it's been two years since you've eaten, right?"

Len instantly thought of Luka - maybe she'd be satisfied with just some meat?

"Do you have any meat?" Len asked.

"Ah, well, I have tuna," Gumi said, "Will that do?"

"I suppose." Len shrugged, as Gumi disappeared into another room. Len sat down on the couch, as the grumpy clock Gary crawled back on, sitting there moodily with his arms crossed over his face. _I suppose nothing around here is normal, huh? _Len thought to himself.

Gumi returned with a large fish, that Len couldn't help but gape at.

"You can take this with you," Gumi explained, "It'll last quite a while - even if you're piggy."

"T-thanks?" Len stammered, as Gumi went over to Fred, beginning to pull broken parts from the clock's remains, before finding spares lying around the room and beginning to fix him, cranking bolts together with the wrench she held.

"I'll be going now," Len said, hauling the giant fish with him, "Wouldn't want to disturb you."

"Wait!" Gumi said, turning to him, as oil squirted from Fred onto her goggles, causing her to hit the clock in anger, before getting up and running off into the other room. A few moments later, she returned with an old pocket watch, covered in scratches and oil stains, 'Thyme' engraved on it. Gumi reached out and put the pocket watch in Len's hand.

"This is a Time Stopper." Gumi explained, "It was originally one of the old clocks here, but after it broke for the sixth time, I decided to mess with it. It ended up telling the time _backwards _and because of that, if you press the button up the top, the clock will counter all the clocks down here, bringing demon time to a stand still. It will also freeze any full-humans in this place - but people who, due to their punishment, are no longer human will still be able to move around. Also you and I won't be effected, as you're the player and I'm the one who made it."

Len nodded, looking at the greasy pocket watch in his hand, the chain falling from his hand, "Can I try it out?"

"Sure," Gumi said, "Also - if you get far enough, you'll need my help. So when you need my help, press the button twice in quick succession, and I'll come running."

Len nodded again, "Thanks Gumi."

"You're very much welcome," Gumi smiled, "And remember to check every room."

[-|-|-]

The corridor sure was a lot darker than Rin had been expecting - no place she'd travelled so far had been as dark as this, even when she was involved with the player last time. Then again, she hadn't been freed from her mirror last time. Her porcelain fingertips braced the wall, as her feet shuffled over the wooden floorboards, her silken hair tickling the stone cold skin of her neck as it wavered from side to side. _I'll never get the hang of walking like this._

The rules of the asylum were simple:

1, if you fail your chance at playing through the asylum, you can never play again, and will simply be imprisoned, unless you accept your punishment and step out to help the current player. 2, as soon as you decide to help a player, you will need to be freed by the player doing something for you - say, making a deal with you, or letting you out of your prison. 3, you can freely move around the asylum when there is no current player, however, the asylum's shape will revert back to the original shape humans portrayed it to be, meaning this will not help you with puzzles. 4, the only questions you can freely ask a fellow prisoner are the following: "What is your punishment?" "What floor are you on?" "How far did you get (floor wise)?" and "What is your name?" If a prisoner is not speaking to you due to their insanity, you may ask other prisoners if they know the answer to the question. 5, you cannot die; your punishment for failing and being in here in the first place is to spend the rest of eternity in this prison, along with your punishment chosen by the High Council.

The High Council - that brought Rin to another train of thought. The only thing she'd only ever understood about them was that they were the group of demons that crafted this place. None of them had ever appeared before anyone as far as Rin knew, and their identities were a mystery. The rules were the only message you ever received from them.

Rin really had hoped she wouldn't run into Luka - the girl had always been crazy, especially when it came to Rin; always going on about how _delicious _she looked. She'd at least hoped Luka would've made it to the tenth or twentieth floor; she wasn't ready to deal with her quite yet. Rin had been more hoping Miku would come in. She and the tealette had become friends over Rin's few years in the asylum - talking about their brothers was one of their favourite passtimes. Miku had also told Rin of her punishment - to play the part of Cinderella in Cendrillon, doomed to die over and over, but she'd also very secretly told Rin that she had a _key _to a room. A key that could only be obtained by saving Miku, and that key would release someone else - and that 'someone else' was the only prisoner in solitary confinement.

Solitary confinement - the room for the person who made it to floor 65. Possibly the only person who knew how to escape.

Miku also explained that every time she became normal, she forget where the key was, and when the game began, she forgot all about the asylum, seeing it simply as the stage of Cinderella.

And Rin supposed that when she'd bumped into Miku after reading the story, she'd appeared as one of the step-sisters. Her words had probably been different as well.

"Ah!" Rin gasped, as her fragile toe slammed into the wall, shattering into a million pieces, "Oh not _again_."

She really was sick of being broken so easily! A single bump could shatter her arm to a million pieces - she'd been only a head before Len had entered and she'd grown a year older, her body regenerating. She supposed it was good she could regenerate, but it was still an awful pain - in annoyance and how much it hurt.

She shuffled forwards, careful not to slam her other toes against the wall, reaching out and feeling against the wall, until she found another door. The door had no door handle - which meant it was the way through. The doors in the asylum can only be opened by the player, as it's the player's sanity that allows them to touch and see the door handles. Rin mentally groaned - so the had been no use in her coming down that corridor! Would've been more useful to go left, and Len go right. She decided to turn around and go back.

Turning around, Rin braced herself against the corridor and began shuffling, still wondering why it was so necessary to have it so dark. There wasn't anything spooky about it just being _dark_. Light filled the room as the door was pushed open, the figure of a girl in silhouetting against the light, causing Rin's heart to thump in her chest. _Luka_.

"Riiiiin~!" Luka called out, giggling, "Riiin, you in theeere~?"

Rin clutched to the wall in fear, not too keen on being the pink-haired girl's lunch.

"I don't think she's in there," Luka said disappointedly, "Maybe she went on without Lenny-kins and I?"

_Lenny-kins? _Rin thought, outraged and disgusted.

"She's in there," A small voice said, causing Rin to jump, "I can smell her."

"Ooo~! Does she smell yummy~?" Luka asked, giggling to herself.

"She doesn't smell yummy," The small voice said. It sounded slightly - and oddly - robotic, and of that of a small child's. Perhaps it was the child that lived in the bedroom?

"Awww," Luka whined, before giggling, "I'm sure she _tastes _yummy though!"

"Where's the player?" The voice asked, a figure shifting slightly into the doorway. It was very short - barely up to Luka's knee.

"Ummm," Luka said, "He went the other way."

"Suppose he's paying Gumi-nee a visit." The small child said, a slight tone of happiness rising in the otherwise dead-pan robotic voice.

"Who's that? Does she taste nice?" Luka asked, as the two figures stepped away from the door as it slammed shut, plummeting the corridor back into darkness. Rin exhaled a sigh of relief.

"I thought she was going to eat me..." Rin said quietly, before her eyes widened, a hand laying on her shoulder, one pressed against her porcelain lips.

"My beautiful doll... It's about time you stopped playing this game, don't you think?" Said a low voice in Rin's ear, her eyes widening, before everything turned into a suffocating silence.

**-END-**

**A/N: As the story progresses, more opportunities will open in which you can choose what happens - say there's a fork in the road for example. Those chapters will then branch off - they'll turn into Chapter #:1 or Chapter #:2. If the choice leads to a 'Bad End' in which Len becomes insane, a chapter following it will be called 'Bad End#'. If you get the bad end with Chapter #:1, then the story will revert back to Chapter #:2, and then continue normally from there on until the story reaches the end. So, this story will go on for... long. Heaps long. Like 60+ chapters. Btw, suggest some puzzles for the 'game' to include!**


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